The Clone’s Mate by Susan Trombley

Thirteen

“That didn’t tell us much,” a tinny voice said in my ear.

I shrieked and jerked upwards into a stiff sitting position, glancing around to make sure Subject 34 wasn’t nearby.

“Damn it, Nirgie, what the hell are you doing inside my head?” I hissed as I lifted a hand to touch the translator. “You’d better not be reading my thoughts right now!”

“I am horrified at the very suggestion,” Nirgal said in a stuffy tone. “I am not in your head, thank the Grand Spinner. I am speaking in your ear through the implant we installed there, you tangled twit.”

I held up a hand like the jerk was right in front of me. “Listen here, buddy, you don’t need to get nasty. I’m doing what you asked me to do.”

“I suppose we can be thankful you managed to restrain yourself from mating with Subject 34. It spared us all an unpleasant scene. We are required to observe these interactions, after all.”

“You know, you’re starting to give me a complex, you dick,” I snapped, pushing myself to my feet, then brushing off my sweatpants. “But I know the truth.”

“The truth?” He sounded completely lost, much to my satisfaction.

“You don’t have to keep up the pretense, Nirgie. I mean, it’s pretty obvious.”

“What nonsense are you yammering on about, human?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m just sayin’… you’re not very slick about it.”

“What is ‘it’?” he demanded, and I wondered if he was strangling his tablet at this moment.

I grinned at the thought that he’d probably need a new one by the time I was done with him.

“Aw, it’s okay, Nirgie. I understand the real reason you’re so mean to me. I won’t take it personally.”

“Would you just answer the blighted question, human?”

He was practically shouting in my ear now and I chuckled, taking a few hesitant steps near the rock I’d been sitting against just to make sure I wouldn’t topple over. My legs felt rubbery and weak.

“What question is that, Nirgie?”

I looked around the enclosure surrounding the crevice area, quickly shifting my gaze away from the bones still littering the sand. I had no idea where the cameras were, but I didn’t doubt there were many angles of me to choose from.

“What question? The… damn you, now I have no idea what in the Spinner’s web we were talking about!”

“Where’s Subject 34,” I asked, relenting since I’d gotten a reaction out of him. It was so damned fun to push the jerk’s buttons that I almost looked forward to talking to him.

He was silent for a long moment where I pictured him struggling to regain control of his temper. “We deposited food for him, and he has gone into the maze to hunt it.”

I held up a hand, recalling now exactly how much of a monster Nirgal and his buddies were. I’d almost forgotten that. I supposed I should be thankful for the stark and sickening reminder.

“You son of a bitch!” I snarled, making my way around the rocks. “You had better not have dropped another person into that maze to be hunted by 34. If you did, I will find a way out of this enclosure, and I will hunt you down and take that fucking tablet of yours and bash your fucking head in with it!”

“We don’t waste sapient subjects lightly,” he said as if he had the nerve to be offended. “We’ve already ascertained Subject 34’s ability to hunt with prescience. It has far surpassed our expectations.”

“You are such a monster,” I said, making my way towards the wall of the enclosure nearest the crevice. If this place had an outlet other than the vault door where I’d entered, it might be worth checking it out for a potential escape.

Even if it did lead back into the maze.

“We are not monsters! We are scientists.” I could tell by his tone that he was growing agitated.

Good. Screw that bastard. I didn’t even know how many poor, doomed people had raced around that maze trying to find an escape they’d never reach.

I hoped Nirgal suffered some day just as much as his victims had.

“In your case, it’s apparently the same damned thing,” I snapped, placing a hand on the wall, then shrieking and snatching it back to tuck it against my chest after receiving a painful shock.

“Subject 34 will not be occupied long, human,” Nirgal said, changing the subject as he usually did when he had no defense for his atrocities. “I won’t waste any more time being distracted from the purpose of this experiment. His actions were not entirely clear to us when he interacted with you, which is unfortunate.”

“They weren’t clear to you because you lack empathy, you bastard.” Without touching the wall again, I started walking along it, pacing out the size of the enclosure.

“It is, of course, intriguing that he spoke.” He ignored my criticism as usual. “Now I’m confident you can get him to say more. We’ve implanted the memory of our own language in his brain, and his translator will make it possible for him to understand yours. Thus, it’s imperative that you communicate verbally as much as possible to increase the opportunities for him to reply. I suspect you’ll have no trouble talking frequently. It’s remaining silent that appears to give you difficulties.”

I lifted a hand to rub my temple, sighing heavily as I continued my way around the large chamber. “I think you idiots are making a huge mistake with 34.”

“What difference does it make what you think?” His tone dripped with condescension. “We are finally on the brink of a breakthrough with Subject 34. This experiment has far wider implications than you can imagine. Your thoughts on the topic are irrelevant.”

“What is your ultimate goal, anyway?” I paused in my steps as I stared at the wall like he stood right on the other side of it. “Human scientists perform experiments to better the world and help people. That’s why human experimentation has so many boundaries to it and so many ethical restraints. You guys, though, all you seem to do is create misery and pain and suffering. I’ve seen those poor people of yours in the warehouse. You don’t even care about your own kind, much less any other creature!”

“The suffering of those males is not our doing,” Nirgal said in a stiff tone. “They imprinted upon females that were not available to them. They would deteriorate and die no matter what we do to them. We are working on a cure that will save some of them—at the very least. A cure that was used on Subject 34 to protect him from imprinting.”

I propped my hands on my hips, glaring at the wall, noting that it was made of large panels very tightly jointed together. Shocking panels, sadly, so there wasn’t a likelihood of me being able to pry them apart.

“So that’s supposed to convince me that what you’re doing to them isn’t wrong? You should see the way green guy stares with utter terror in his eyes at the ‘claw’ you bastards use to extract us. I know you’re doing some fucked up crap to those poor people.”

“Ilyan is a… special case that I have no intention of discussing, least of all with you. Nor do I intend to explain the purpose of this experiment. I don’t need to justify my actions to you, human.”

I regarded the wall with a smirk, hoping there was a camera around to capture my expression. “Oh, but I bet they bother you. Especially now, because someone is finally pointing out what a heinous creature you are.” I waved my hand in the vague direction of 34’s crevice. “That’s why you’re always shrieking ‘it’s for science!’ whenever I mention the terrible things you do. As if that’s an excuse to do whatever you want and screw anyone who has to suffer for it.”

“You understand nothing!” Nirgal’s voice shook with anger, and I suspected I’d really pushed a big red button now.

“Oh yeah.” I tapped one foot, my hands still on my hips. “Then explain it to me, huh. I’m willing to bet you can’t, because the minute you start thinking too hard about what you’re doing here, you’re going to have to see what you’ve become, and that’s going to be a very ugly sight, Nirgal.”

“Enough!”

I slammed my hand to my ear as he shouted into it, then collapsed to my knees at the reverb sound that seemed to rock my skull. The vibration of sound reignited the dull ache in my scalp from the bump on my head.

After a long silence that rang in my ears, he spoke again in a deadly calm tone. “Subject 34 is returning to the enclosure now. You will meet him and attempt to get him to speak again. Do not speak to me again, human. I have nothing left to say to you.”

“You can’t escape your crimes, Nirgal,” I said in a solemn voice. “They will always weigh on you. But you could lighten their burden by redeeming yourself.” I stared at the wall with a pleading expression. “Let me go. Stop these horrible things you’re doing! Save all those poor people in their cages!”

Nothing but silence met my plea, and I shook my head, my shoulders slumping. My worst fears were right. Nirgal was a heartless bastard, and I was wasting my time trying to reach him and open his eyes to how wrong he was. Apparently, he was a completely evil mad scientist-type with zero empathy—a sadist, responsible for such cruelties that there wasn’t any coming back from them.

I was alone in my fight for survival.

Subject 34 appeared behind me so silently that I screamed when he grabbed my shoulder, completely unaware of his presence. I spun around, backing away from him. For once, he didn’t sting me. I took that as a good sign.

Maybe I wasn’t completely alone. In fact, perhaps I had the strongest possible ally in this hellhole.